GlamCorner scores in the sharing economy of fashion rental

Millennials have moved on from owning to sharing. They use Spotify to listen to music, Netflix to watch movies, Uber to get around and Airbnb for a place to stay.

Husband and wife duo Dean Jones and Audrey Khaing-Jones are tapping into the rise of the sharing economy securing another $800,000 in funding for their fashion rental start-up GlamCorner from AirTree Ventures.

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"There was kind of a delay in applying it to fashion and I think that's because there was a stigma behind rental," she says. "Now it is becoming aspirational because women and men are realising they can access designers and dressing that might be otherwise out of their reach. It's about having access to luxury in a way where ownership is not affordable for many people."

Author Rachel Botsman says the fashion industry is just catching on to demand for access over ownership. Photo: Lee Besford

Botsman says now customers are more comfortable about paying for usage not ownership the idea of paying thousands of dollars for a dress you would wear once or twice makes less sense.

"So we are seeing an accelerated explosion in fashion rental," she says.

Botsman says the logistics and experience around these platforms has changed dramatically over the past three years.

"Pick up, drop off, cleaning – they are removing the friction out of this experience."

GlamCorner is e-commerce meets air traffic control.

Dean Jones

Getting started

GlamCorner started when Khaing-Jones had the classic dilemma of looking in her wardrobe and thinking, "I have nothing to wear."

"I ended up buying all these clothes I only wore once. Then you get tagged on Facebook so you can't wear it again. I started Googling around for a place to rent dresses and I thought, 'Why isn't anyone doing this in Australia?'"

The pair bootstrapped GlamCorner with their savings of $20,000 and found the model worked.

Jones says the latest funding round will enable GlamCorner to double its stock of 1000 dresses from 70 designers and improve the businesses' technology platform.

"GlamCorner is e-commerce mets air traffic control," Jones says. "We have spent a lot of time investing in our e-commerce platform but we are seeing a lot of efficiencies come through."

The start-up currently turns over more than $1 million a year and in the next year the pair expect to increase this to $3 million.

Using data

"This business at its soul is very much a logistics and technology company," Jones says. "We are super data driven to work out how we make buying decisions and to work out what styles are trending."

GlamCorner works hard to observe customers behaviour on the site to see which outfits they are looking at, as well as those that are been ordered. The start-up is also using data to try to optimise logistics.

Delivering a designer dress is a more tricky proposition than streaming a song or movie. The dress must arrive in perfect condition and on time.

"It's a very event date driven business and any delay [in returns] can have a big flow-on effect," Jones says.

Social media

Millennials' obsession with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have "played a big role" in GlamCorner's success, according to Khaing-Jones.

Social media drives demand for fashion rental by customers who don't want to post pictures of themselves wearing the same outfit twice, and it also enables GlamCorner to get the word out.

"Since day one it has given us so many customers and early feedback on the concept," Khaing Jones says. "Social proof is very important to every business these days. We use influencers [paid in a mix of product and cash] to spread the word about Glam Corner because the concept is still quite young."

Increased competition

GlamCorner was one of the early entrants into the fashion rental market in Australia but competition is now fierce with Dressed Up, Can I Borrow That?, Love Me and Leave Me and Something Borrowed all offering similar services.

"On balance we think that's great," Jones says. "These competitors are just like us and helping to introduce the concept to more customers. Because it's a young industry, concept adoption is a good thing."

Jones says the hot competition in the sector shows the sharing economy can apply to wardrobes.

"We are even sharing customers," he says. Customers sometimes rent one item from GlamCorner and another from Something Borrowed. "When the tide comes in all the boats rise."